Me or the Music?

*Third Person POV*

It was the fifth night it was happening. All Marie could muster was a small smile, a hug, and watch him walk out the door again. Matt and the guys were playing shows every night the past week, after they got off a four month tour that had kept Marie and Matt away from eachother for the entire time. That wasn't exactlythe problem. It was the lack of communication that was putting Marie on her toes every day. She missed spending time with Matt, she missed just lying on the beach with him like they had done on that first tour.

Her green eyes followed his car as he drove down the road towards Brian's, to pick him up and start their journey to Vegas for a show over the weekend. He'd be gone for another whole weekend, and that wasn't including the fact they would most likely extend the trip because, it wasn't a secret, Matt loved Vegas.

"More than me." Marie whispered as she closed the blue and white checkered curtain. Her hair was still it's blonde color, but now she let it hand straightened around her shoulders. Instead of wavy halfway down her back as before.

She had mostly lost touch with the girls, for the fact they all had their own things to do, it was a mutual loss of touch. They tried, attempted girls nights when the guys would be gone, but something always came up. Last time it was because Marie had to work, and Hanna had to rush to Los Angeles for an emergency with her sister.

Something always came up, and lately it seemed to be weighing heavy with Marie. Matt either wasn't noticing their lack of words and touch, or he was just not reacting the way Marie expected. How should she expect him to act after being married two years? This time last year they were almost joined at the hip, now they were barely ever together. They slept in the same bed, when one of them joined the other after a long night of work. Sex was nearly non existent, only the occasional when Marie would get worried about Matt's needs and made it almost impossible for him to say now. She'd break out the sexiest lingerie she owned, make sure he was in the mood, and pretty much let him do whatever he wanted. Wether it was good for her, never mattered any more.

The thought that she was just something to come home to, something on the back burner of Matt's mind, had crossed her own confused thoughts more than it should. She couldn't help but wonder if Matt even loved her anymore. He never talked about Corinne, and that had been something they almost bonded over. Was he actually over her? Was that the only reason he had married her, becuase they had something in common? They each lost someone they loved? Marie wondered if that Matt was over Corinne, that he wanted to move on to someone who wasn't as emotionally scarred as Marie was.

The thoughts raced through her mind as she invisioned all the strip joints in Vegas, picturing Matt in one of them with some busty blonde made her stomach flip dozens of times. She didn't want to be so quiet, she wanted to explosive relationship they had before, when they couldn't exactly keep their hands off eachother.

Marie knew in her heart, she needed to get through to Matt finally. Or she needed out. The alone time was slowly killing her, leaving her mind to wander to the darkest places it should not go, leaving her to assume the worst when Matt was out.

~*~

"I'm home!" Matt shouted into the house a week later. Marie sighed, she had unfourtunately been right. They spent a week in Vegas, time she wished Matt would invest in her.

"Kitchen!" She called back, putting away a sauce pan under the counter. She stood up straight and smiled, seeing Matt in the doorway smiling back at her "How was Vegas?" She asked as she picked up a towel and a plate to dry.

"It was... Vegas." Matt smiled and sat down "Jackie called while we were gone..." He played with the bottom of his shirt. Marie immediatly put the plate down and hurried over to the table. She knew his nervous habbits, she knew everything about him. He was Matt. Her Matt. The Matt she fell in love with on tour, she knew him inside and out.

"Oh? Is everything ok?" She asked, drying her hands with the towel. Matt sighed, taking her hands in his, staying silent. It wasn't a silence Marie wanted broken, it felt filled to the brim as it was.

He inspected her hands, running his fingers over her dish-water pruned skin. She laughed and he looked up with a concentrated look. His eyes studied her face, his hands still on her's. He was trying to see where she was, what she was thinking.

Matt noticed more than Marie gave him cerdit for. He knew something was different, he just couldn't pin point if it was with himself, or Marie. He traced every new line on her hands, things he hadn't noticed before. He watchedher fingernails. The manicures she had once gotten weekly with Jackie and Lacey were now replaced by cut down worn nails that had been working on dishes all morning. There was a small scar on her pinky, from what he didn't know. And he couldn't even remember her mentioning anything about it.

Her laugh pulled him from his thoughts. He looked up, staring into her eyes. The were a lighter green, when they had changed he hadn't noticed. Had he really become that distant? He stared at her face, it was as young as when he married her, but she was different. She looked more mature, more timed, she had more wisdom it looked. Her lips had made small, almost unoticable creases at the sides of her mouth. Her lips were a faded blush color, but her smile was still wide and bright. Her hair had clearly been neglected that morning, but it was shorter than normal.

His stomach pained when he realize how much he'd been neglecting the one person he would die without. The one person he couldn't exactly live without.

"How about we go get some dinner tonight?" He asked.

"I can't... remember?" She asked, taking her hands back from him. Matt furrowed his eyebrows together, trying to remember. He felt like a failure when Marie sighed "I told you before you left, I have a meeting in San Fransisco. I have to leave in an hour, I was just cleaning up before I left..." Marie paused as Matt took a deep breath and let it out "I wasn't expecting you home actually..."

"Well.." He paused, not knowing what to say. He hadn't even expected to be back home this early. He was planning on a week plus a few days in Vegas, but Brian needed to get back.

"So what was wrong with Jackie?" Marie asked as she stood up, going back to cleaning "She called?"

"Oh, yeah. She said... never mind." Matt brushed it off. He didn't want Marie knowing that everyone was worried about the both of them. Jackie had called because she knew how Marie felt, so she called Brian was the excuse that their cellar flooded so they'd all come home. Matt knew it was a lie, cellars didn't exactly floor in their type of houses. And it was July. It was hot, there was barely any water just hanging around in someone's cellar.

"Oh, alright." Marie shrugged "Well I have to go pack so... I'll make dinner when I'm done." She muttered something under her breath that Matt couldn't catch.

"No, it's fine. I'll make dinner, don't stress yourself before you leave." Matt stood up and smiled. Marie swore she could have passed out from the shock. He never offered to help. It was get home, eat whatever she made, watch something on TV, fuss over something band related, and bed.

Marie nodded slowly as he walked over "Are you sure? I can whip up some-"

"It's cool, I'll finish cleaning. You go pack hun." He kissed the side of her face, her face was less receptive than he expected. Only because she hadn't been expecting it at all, what so ever.